Ask Snoopi - EMERGENCY!

Now that I have your attention, here's a fantastic blog post from Snoopi Botten, on a very important topic!

Ask Snoopi, Emergency

Hi everyone. I've been hoping to do an article every month but that has not been happening and no-one has been writing with any questions. So for this article, I wanted to share what I've been dealing with because it will fit right into my topic. And the topic is, have an emergency page.

About a year and a half ago, I did my last concert at ISAAC not knowing it would be my last concert. I had the honor of doing it with Peter Yarrow and I almost couldn't pull it off. But I did and then I went downhill real fast.

Part of my problem was nerve damage on my neck and I was unable to move for 7 months. I was in bed a lot and really bored. I finally had surgery on my neck and I am slowly getting back to normal but I may never be back to the way I was.

I have been having a lot of infections. Every time I have one, the doctor says it affects my mind. With every infection it will cause a little more damage. They don't know how much or how fast. I am already having short-term memory problems. It's not enough to worry about yet. I have no idea what is to come.

I found a way to type a little bit on my computer but not on my communication device. So right now, I'm putting all my energy into my web site so I can help people that way.

I wish I had known that my health would go downhill. If I had, I would have made a page with very few icons on it so that I would have some way to communicate. I want to share with all of you the idea that I now have so that you might make a page for emergencies. I used to be able to type with my fingers but now I cannot. And maybe someday some of you might have some problem. So here are some of my ideas to put in an emergency page.

The icons should be as big as possible. I would recommend only 4 of them. The first icon should say, "Hello, I need to tell or ask you something that might not be in my device. so please wait and try to figure out what I'm trying to say." The next icon should say, "I want to tell you something." The third icon should say, "I want to ask you something." And the fourth icon should move to another page with four more icons. The first icon on that page should say, "Please tell me what medication you are giving me." The next icon should say, "There is something wrong. Please ask me yes or no questions." The third icon should be, "I need help doing something." And then the fourth icon would move you to another page.

I am sure you get the idea by now and everyone will have their own ideas what they would want in an emergency. I would do it NOW before your health goes downhill! That way if you are unable to move very much, you will still have some way to communicate.

I am 49 years old and I never thought I would be the way I am now. So I am sharing this because no-one knows what might happen tomorrow. I will try to write every month and I hope you will write in with any questions you have.
beroberts@hughes.net

Snoopi Botten

Emergent Writing and Pic Collage

Celebrating Scribbling with Pic Collage!!

PicCollage is an off-the-shelf app designed for quickly creating and sharing photo collages.  It is very easy to get pictures from:

- Camera

- Photo album

- Web

It's also very easy to add and manipulate text.  It has one of the easiest interfaces for manipulating:

- Fonts (multiple intriguing and varied fonts)

- Colors

- Styles (bold, etc)

- Size (pinch & drag)

A wide and growing list of sticker sets adds to the fun.

But what does this have to do with emergent writing?  

PicCollage is great for writing.  Here's an example:

1) Student picks one or two photos to write about (in this case, it was pictures saved as screenshots from a favorite story, The Princess and the Pea, from Best Kids Stories-Songs).  

2) The student scribbles using the alphabet, whether using a keyboard, typical pencil, or an alternative pencil.

3) This writing is transposed to Pic Collage.  The student picks font, colors, etc.  

4) The resulting collage can then be shared via multiple routes, including e-mail, Facebook, twitter, photo library, etc.  (I typically mail to the parents / teachers).

Below are samples using text and words from the communication device.  This student is a very early conventional writer.  She later confirmed that S = sad and B = bad.  Most samples would show more scribble!

Device (help) and Scribble

 Device (no someone, etc) and Alphabet

 

PicCollage and Phonics!

Supporting Phonics With  PicCollage

PicCollage is an off-the-shelf app designed for quickly creating and sharing photo collages.  It is very easy to get pictures from:
- Camera
- Photo album
- Web

It's also very easy to add and manipulate text.  It has one of the easiest interfaces for manipulating:
- Fonts (multiple intriguing and varied fonts)
- Colors
- Styles (bold, etc)
- Size (pinch & drag)

A wide and growing list of sticker sets adds to the fun.

But what does this have to do with phonics?

I have found PicCollage to be a quick way to review and celebrate words created through an onset + rime activity.  For example, I worked with a student who loves fairy tales.  Here's the procedure we followed:
1) We read Princess and the Pea from Best Kids Songs-Stories. 

2) We used the onset + rime approach to make words with the endings (rimes) -ed and -at, using the key words Ed and at.  The student and I took turns choosing an onset (beginning) and trying it with each rime.

 3)  'Real words' were written on a whiteboard in the appropriate column (ex:  fed and wed under the key word Ed; sat and fat under the key word at).

4) Then I took screenshots from the story and quickly added them to PicCollage.  I made a sentence such as, 'Check it out.  They FED the princess.' and the student found the word fed from the list.  We added it, and quickly made it fun by changing fonts & colors. 

5) The resulting collage can then be shared via multiple routes, including e-mail, Facebook, twitter, photo library, etc.  (I typically mail to the parents / teachers).

Conventional Writing & iDevices

iWrite - Can iDevices Support Conventional Writers?  APPSolutely!

Conventional Writing & iDevices